Zika virus transmitted sexually from human to human in Texas

Zika virus was transmitted from one person to another in Texas, USA. The authorities of the state confirmed that the virus was transmitted in a sexual intercourse. Previously it was thought that the virus that causes microcephaly in babies was only a mosquito-born disease.

The patient got infected after a sexual contact with a person, who returned from a country where Zika virus was thriving. Reportedly, the person returned to the USA from Venezuela.

Zika virus was first registered in 1947 in Uganda. This is a not a lethal virus, but there is no vaccine against it. The WHO drew attention to the dissemination of the virus in 2015, when Brazil recorded a sharp rise in births of children with microcephaly.

Officially, more than 500,000 cases of infection were reported in Brazil. At the end of January of 2016, patients infected with the virus in Europe were found in Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Cases of infection were registered in 27 countries.

Russia has introduced special measures at airports to prevent the penetration of the virus in Russia.